H&M teams up with artist M.I.A on spring recycling initiative as February sales rise

It’s a busy week for Swedish fashion giant Hennes & Mauritz. The fashion retailer just revealed that February sales rose 10% year-on-year in local currencies, falling just short of analysts’ 11% expectations.

But the figures were up against a tough-to-beat February 2015 when H&M sales were flying, up 15% on-year, then beating analysts’ estimate for a 12.7% rise. February 2014 sales also rose 11%. Sales last month were also positively affected by around 2% due to the February 29 Leap Year day, H&M admitted.

In Q1 (December-February), sales rose to SEK43.7bn ($5.24bn) from SEK40.3bn last time, just short of analyst’s SEK44bn call. H&M’s store count, meanwhile, also rose to 3,970 as of end February compared to 3,551 a year ago.

In addition to releasing its sales figures, it made a big commitment toward improving the fashion industry’s impact on the environment. This April, H&M is teaming up with singer M.I.A  for the first World Recycle Week (18th-24th April 2016).

The partnership will see M.I.A release a new music video, alongside H&M’s ambitious global Garment Collecting activity. The plan is to collect 1,000 tonnes of unwanted or worn out garments from consumers across the globe. The video campaign will also have a further online element, with top fashion bloggers rehauling/recycling their clothes, (rehauling is the opposite to the ‘hauling’ videos that are hugely popular on Youtube with bloggers unveiling their new purchases). H&M also wants to encourage its global consumers to create their own rehaul videos with the hashtag #HMrehaul.

Look out for the music video from M.I.A airing on 11th April 2016 on hm.com.

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